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What is a monkeybox?

When I was a little girl, we had a pet monkey named Amanda. My Dad worked in the produce business, so each night he brought home that days culls in a big box - spotty cucumbers, pithy apples, limp celery, moldy oranges and the like. We called it a monkeybox. It was really just trash, but my Mom would take each piece of fruit and trim it, pare it and cut it up to make a beautiful fruit platter for Amanda. Even though it was deemed trash by one, it still had life left in it and was good for the purpose we needed it. That's how I live my life - thrifting, yard saling, looking for another's trash to be my treasure.

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Sunday, October 18, 2015

Yes, Virginia

There really IS an All Christmas Thrift Store! *Cue the angel choir*

There is a big thrift store a few towns over that is located in a MALL of all places. It is a good sized thrift with moderate prices. Since it is about 40 miles there, I don't go often. But, I do follow them on Facebook in case they have any specials. They used to have books half off a lot and they always had tons of good old Reader's Digest books that would be 8/$1.00 which is SUCH a good deal. Anyhoooo - last week they posted that the ALL CHRISTMAS store would be opening on the 15th.

"THE ALL WHAT WILL BE OPEN WHEN NOW?"

After I put on a pair of dry pants, I marked it on my calendar. HA HA Get it?

I considered taking a tent and setting up camp out side the door of the store in the mall like groupies or One Direction Fans or people waiting for the new iphone. But, I was a good girl and waited for opening day - then the RACE WAS ON.

When I walked in the first thing I saw was a big display of Christmas village pieces - they were priced $28.00 and up. Craaaaaaaap! I wasn't going to find any deals here. I walked past the tables of all snowmen, all angels, all Santa's and so on. As I got more to the back it started looking like my kind of place. Piles of tubs, tubs full of baggies full of ornaments, piles or ornaments in boxes and so on. I went to the back corner and when into my Zen mode where I look at every single item, quickly eliminating the new stuff and the stuff I am not interested in and only seeing the vintage goods. I was there about an hour and I ended up finding a good amount of vintage. I bought about a dozen baggies that were pure delight to open and paw through.

A beautiful 1942 Christmas Carol book, a kid's Crafting book, a box of mulit-colored light bulbs (I have a huge jar full already, but the organized little box spoke to me), a box of Santa-Trim light bulbs, four tiny lacquer Christmas tree trays, a Sweden Santa, lovely PINK Poland ornament, a tiny angel to replace the one I just sold at The Junk Ranch and a couple long strands of fake candy garland. I love that candy garland - I have a wreath made of it that is in need of repair.

A baggie full of stinky plastic poinsettias. Old plastic flowers have a definite smell to them. A Santa for a wreath and two Santa mugs. I will never leave a Santa mug behind. Never!

Some of the ornaments from the baggies. These will go on an ornament wreath. I swore off making any more of those wreaths, but now that I have sold them all, I am thinking I should make more. I am a sucker for punishment. Of course, there was a moderate amount of uncool junk that got re-donated.

I dug this old Reindeer out of the depths of a pile of stuffed Santa's and Snowmen. He is super cute.

Four Christmas brooches. I never wear brooches, but I seem to be buying a lot of them lately. The deer with the mystic blue eyes is my favorite. Even though he kind of looks like he wants to kill you. Behind the brooches, a set of four Bakelite napkin rings and behind that - a Bucilla Stocking Kit that should - KNOCK WOOD - pay for the whole mess of stuff.

I paid too much for these guys, but man are they cute. I felt like I needed to rescue them before they got broken or stolen. They are pretty darn cute. Have I mentioned their cuteness?

The ornaments were all in baggies - they are all plastic, but I like those. Unbreakable is a magic word in some houses. As for that dreamy glass garland - I looked in hundreds of baggies of Mardi Gras beads and plastic Hobby Lobby beads. But, I persevered and found ONE bag of glass garland. I have a lot of it and I will never be able to sell any of it. It is my favorite thing to find. Like finding a gold coin in a pile of pennies that no one else sees. HIDDEN TREASURE!

More baggie loot. Love that PINK bird and all the handmade sequined ornaments. Everything except the glass garland, one stand of candy garland and the babies will go to the booths or to my next show. Yes, I have another show coming up in three weeks. More on that later.

This isn't Christmas, but I dug it out of all the Walmart and Dollar tree tins. It is almost the size of a small picnic basket. It held cookies and isn't that old, but I liked the plaid and the idea of it, so I bought it. As I walked around the mall carrying it, three people stopped me to ask about it and to ogle it. I should have sold it to one of them. :D

When I left, the lady at the register said, "Come back soon - we still have about 60 pallets of merchandise to put out."

First of all....a thrift store of all Christmas! Let me put dry pants on also!! You just found some amazing stuff and I'm in awe of your shopping skills. Love it and can't choose a fav although the little ceramic angels with with the packages are pretty cute@ I'd be making a return trip for sure. hugs,Linda

Dang! I'm super happy and super jealous. I'm having serious estate sale and thrifting withdrawal. I'm so glad you can provide me with a much needed "fix". My grandparents had a children's & women's clothing store and they used to hang that candy garland all over the children's area of the store at Christmas. Sigh. Sweet memories.

First...change your pants...crack me up. Second. A whole store!?!?! We will get a full row jammed with stuff but that's about it. Third. I can tell our thrifts are holding back on Christmas right now so they can have a big impact in a month.

It looks like you must have had to take dry pants with you to the store as well! Nice! I love that green deer. Soooooo cute! I would have bought that tin too. I gave my grandmother a Christmas tree brooch like that for Christmas one year when I was a kid.

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About Me

I am the curator or a small house crammed to the rafters with vintage goodness. I love finding old stuff, making it new again and reselling it in my flea market booth. Mostly, I like to keep it! :) BUT! More than all that - I love where I live in NW Arkansas. Beautiful country with lots of great things to see and do. Sometime it's about the junk. Sometimes it's about the journey.

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Hazel

Hazel is a 1950''s Buster Brown Mannequin. I purchased her at the Estate of a dear lady I knew. She worked at Woolsworth for many years and rescued the mannequin from the store when she was about to be thrown out. Hazel has become a member of our family! (I never had a girl, you know!)